Direct and Indirect Objects | English Grammar Lesson

Direct Objects

Sometimes, sentences contain something called a direct object.

a direct object is a noun/pronoun/noun phrase/noun clause that is being acted upon or that is directly affected by the main verb.

Let’s take a look at this sentence here:

Kennedy drinks coke.

In this sentence, ‘coke’ is the direct object. It is the noun that is being acted upon or being directly affected by Kennedy’s action.

Michelle broke the computer.

In this sentence, ‘the computer’ is the direct object. How do we know this? The computer is what broke. The computer receives the action.

Let’s look at another example.

Lorenzo saw Katie.

In this sentence, our subject is Lorenzo. He is performing the action in the sentence: saw. The noun that is being directly affected by this action is ‘Katie’.

How do I know what the direct object of a sentence is?

One way to determine whether or not a noun or pronoun is the direct object of the sentence is to ask oneself the question: What or who(m) is being acted upon by the verb?

Kennedy drank what? a coke

Michelle broke what? the computer

Frances hiked what? The Appalachian trail

Lorenzo saw whom? Katie

Let’s look at these sentence:

Connor yawned.

if I were to ask myself the question: Connor yawned what? or Connor yawned whom? I would not be able to. The verb ‘yawned’ has no direct object. There is nothing being acted upon or being affected by Connor yawning.

Genesis loves Marie.

‘Genesis’ is our subject. The action is ‘loves’. Who or what does Genesis love? Marie. So we can then conclude that Marie is the direct object. She is the person receiving that main action of being loved.

The chicken clucked.

Our subject is ‘the chicken’. our verb is ‘clucked.’ If we ask ourselves: Clucked what? or Clucked who? It would be impossible to answer. A cluck is the sound a chicken makes and you can’t cluck something. Also, there is not another noun or pronoun in the sentence being acted upon. Clucked is an intransitive verb. An intransitive verb is a verb that doesn’t have a direct object. This sentence does not have a direct object.

Grandma lost the yarn.

‘Grandma’ is the subject. ‘Lost’ is our main action or verb. We have a noun here: the yarn. Does the yarn answer the question: What did grandma lose? Yes, it does. The yarn is the direct object of this sentence.

Indirect Objects

Let’s talk about another type of object: the indirect object

An indirect object is the person or thing that receives the direct object. They or it is the recipient of the direct object. One way for us to determine the indirect object is to ask the questions: To whom or for what?

Lets see some examples which will help with understanding

I gave Tom the newspaper.

The subject is ‘I’. The verb is ‘gave’. What did I give? I gave the newspaper, so that is our direct object.To whom did I give this newspaper? To Tom. ‘Tom’ is my indirect object. He is the recipient of the direct object.

It might be helpful to think of it like this: The direct object receives the verb or action and the indirect object receives the direct object. In order for us to know what our indirect object is, we must identify the direct object.

This is the order of direct and indirect objects in a sentence

Subject + verb +indirect object + direct object—-so the indirect object always comes before the direct object.

Paul Made Tammy dinner

Our subject is ‘Paul’. Our verb is ‘made’. What did Paul make? He made dinner. Dinner is our direct object. We know our direct object, so we can now ask ourselves: Who received that direct object? Tammy. Tammy is our indirect object.

Maria sold the happy customer some shoes

Our subject is Maria. Our verb is ‘sold’ Maria sold what? Some shoes. ‘Some shoes’ is our direct object. Who is the recipient of some shoes? The happy customer. ‘The happy customer’ is our indirect object.

The soldier wrote his wife a letter.

Our subject is ‘the soldier’ the soldier. ‘Wrote’ is our verb. What did he write? A letter. ’A letter’ is our direct object. To whom or for what did he write this letter? To his wife. His wife received the direct object, so she is the indirect object.

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[reallifeinlucyskitchen]

Taking me back to class and I don't regret it. We're never too old to learn & relearn. Direct and indirect objects is a must learn to perfection. Thanks for sharing

This is one of the best lessons on direct and indirect objects available on the Internet.

[downtownonthavenue]

I love how detailed this teaching is. I’m a visual learner so to see this helped me and English is my native language 😂. Great video as always.

[NayasNews]

This lesson was perfect for me! Detailed and concise. 🙌🏽 Ever since I can remember I’ve always been a visual learner so things often times do not make sense to me until I am able to see them myself.

[xoReni]

Great video Tay! Always very detailed and easy to follow.

[kellebaby]

You always got a way to take me back to the classroom. Great refresher

[CoachD_PlanWithMe]

Your teaching style is fantastic. This was a great refresher. Took notes to help my daughter with her grammer.

[NichelleWomack]

I truly believe a lot of this was left out of the text books and tge classroom. You always give great lessons and make me think about how I talk. Lol.

[bahtillamarinettetv]

Thank you for this informative video; it is essential for English Learners. Direct and indirect objects are fundamental.

[MetaTransitions]

This was very informative. I feel like I am back to school. I will share this with my niece and nephew for sure.

[klzi]

Cluck is the verb I was looking for such a long time. Thank you so much!

[ThePreheimPack]

This was a really clear and detailed lesson. I liked how you explained how to think of the sentence structure in new ways. Communication is so important and especially if English is not your first language, it can be hard to pick up the complex nuances of the language. It sounded familiar but I think I forgot most of this!

[iamcrown]

I didn't know about intransitive verb. I guess we learn everyday. And you explain so well. Very detailed

[JoselineSam-cp]

I don't understand why this video have a little bit likes, this video its so understandable❤

[AdrianaDosSantos]

You are an amazing and patient teacher! This is what i needed in middle school

[mamagoatandfamily]

I haven’t had a English class in so long, I needed this to brush up on my subject and verbs lol

[ilincsh]

🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤thank you very much for your hard work